An Illustrated Fashion Blog by Angie Réhe

A little-known snippet of information about me is that just for fun, I hang out at 3RRR radio here in Melbourne and do Graveyard shows (that’s 2am-6am, yes – prime time) and fill spots for various people’s shows. You see I needed a new hobby when my fave hobby – drawing – became my job… No ambition here, I just love to do stuff that scares and challenges me a bit. So I stepped it up a notch this summer by committing to my very own fashion-themed summer show – Sundays 11am-12pm for 6 weeks starting today, and guess what? The show is called The New Black, and each week I’ll post a summary, some pics, and a link to listen back to the show. Oh wait, except I did the first show this morning and forgot to take any pics!!! Am I serious? Sadly yes… grrr.

Episode 1 was themed “Why does everything look the same?” I was joined for the whole show by Karen Webster, one-time CEO of the L’oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (from 2005-2010) and senior management of RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles, now design director at Buzz. She’s a maverick spirit, supporter of local designers, and go-to authority on all things fashion. Later in the show we were joined by Alice Edgeley of the fashion label Edgeley, which is the antithesis of everything we’d been talking about. Wish you heard it? Well you can listen back here – enjoy!

Have a little trouble drawing faces? Don’t worry, most people do. The faces on an illustration are the biggest giveaway that it’s not the work of a professional in fact. The main problem I find is that people don’t understand what’s underneath the skin – if you don’t know how the face is built, how can you expect to draw it easily and well? So You Think You Can’t Draw Faces is an intensive full-day workshop that starts with the cranial structure of the head and works its way outwards to facial features and stylised fashion faces. This has been a popular workshop and has an incredible effect on people’s drawings. There are still spots left for this Sunday 26th – more info and bookings here!

As weekends go it was mixed if nothing else: Backwards and forwards from Bendigo to look after my mother who had a nasty skin graft on her poor old nose to remove a BCC; a sold-out Fashion Illustration Bootcamp workshop at The Drawing Salon, and best of all, one of my illustrations on the cover of the Good Weekend magazine which goes out as part of not just The Age in Melbourne, but the Sydney Morning Herald in Sydney – Yah!

The portrait is of controversial coal miner Adani. The art director was looking for an artist who works in charcoal, so a fashion illustrator within The Illustration Room agency was not who he expected to have put forward. But wait – all that life drawing I do for pleasure? Charcoal baby! I just don’t think of it for my commercial work. I will now. This was a really enjoyable artwork to work on – I worked larger at A2 size and mixed charcoal, ink, and gouache paint, and got covered up to my elbows in all of it. The full version sans text is below..

I have become obsessed with podcasts – of the self-improvement/get happy variety – and I’ve heard a lot of people talking about changing habits and forming new good ones. So, let’s see how I go just not over-thinking where I was at with my posts, and instead just smashing them out based on what this blog was always about – whatever the hell I’m doing in my life. Yah!

Yesterday I taught a Uni class in watercolours and rendering repeat prints. No surprises, leopard print is one of my all-time favourites, so it will usually turn up in this session. This pic is from the latest Gucci Spring 2018 collections (aah, Alessandro Michele, you really do create some excellent looks to draw). Illustrating catwalk looks is one of my favourite things to do, so I’ve created an afternoon workshop at The Drawing Salon on October 29th (Melbourne, sorry!) doing just that – how to decide what’s important about a look? What to feature? How to sketch it? And make it fabulous. More info here, and you can check out the entire Gucci collection here on the brilliant Vogue runways site. Enjoy!

The finished sketch. I can’t believe I ever hated gouache, given how much I luuurrrve it now, but you do have to understand it I guess – go bold or go home type of attitude. One of my favourite aspects of it is that it’s so great to draw over the top of. Steven Stipelman, one of the superstars of fashion illustration, uses gouache extensively on coloured paper, putting down rough and gestural paintwork then drawing over it. OK, I’ll save you the trouble and include a couple here. You’re welcome!

Oh and hey, I’m holding a 3hr workshop on using gouache and the coloured ground, at The Drawing Salon on Sunday October 22nd. Just sayin’

I may be slow on the uptake – like reeeeelly slow, but at least I get there eventually, right? So after hundreds of demonstration drawings to my students at University and The Drawing Salon, I finally asked one of the students to film a piece of it for me. Yep, I know – revolutionary. This is part of a demo for a class in gouache paint, a fabulous medium to work with and one that gives bold and unique results. It’s weird at first but I promise you’ll love it, eventually…Oh and there’s a workshop dedicated to it at The Salon on October 29th, you can see/book here. Happy painting!

Imagine my excitement when I discovered the David Downton exhibition at Minotti in LA would still be running when I arrived in the US in June. How hastily I switched my landing from San Fran to LA! Imagine my disappointment when I arrived at the Beverly Boulevard store and got the head-to-toe look of displeasure from the LA hipsters tapping away at their lap-tops in the centre of the room (Facebook perhaps?), and then proceeded to make my way around the store.

I’m not sure what bothered me the most – certainly that particular brand of snobbery is nothing new and laughable at best, so it’s down to a) the fact that the artworks were facing the huge sunny windows, causing some to be actually unviewable, b) many were placed above any giant’s eye-line so viewing was tricky & exasperating (especially since the whole idea of going to the show was to see his work close up), c) some of the works (including the Nureyev portrait) were in the back room, and d) – my piece of resistance – the staff didn’t know what “prints vs originals” meant, much less know which of the works were which!

I still enjoyed seeing the works but I did feel sorry for Downton who, even if most of the works were existing, still put a lot of work into this show. The sofas were nice though!

It’s close enough to Spring to call it Springtime. Well OK, maybe not, but at least start planning for Spring… So I have just put together a bunch of dates for a series of workshops, and of course the last Introduction to Fashion Illustration 8-week course for 2017. I love teaching people to draw, and who doesn’t love being able to draw? So if sketching out fabulous fashion illustrations is on your wish list, come and check out the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of The Drawing Salon boutique fashion illustration classes here in Melbourne. Full info here.

How much do I love it when my loves of drawing and drinking meet in a bottle? A lot. Add a third love – ballet – and you have this particular artwork I created to celebrate the creative partnership between the Queensland Ballet, and Sirromet Wines.

I’ve said many times that my life, like Jerry Seinfeld’s, has a way of balancing itself out – even Stevens all the way. Makes sense then that as my eyesight goes the way of video tapes, my sense of smell could get me a job with a French perfumier. Which is great if you’re working in said role, but not so good in our smoke-free music venues, where I spend a fair amount of time. Whoever knew that men fart pretty much constantly when watching bands?

So I have become maniacally sensitive to fragrances, and thanks to two big projects for Clarins Australia, absolutely inspired by the beauty of their bottles. I’ve illustrated a hoard of them, this is a teeny taste…

The Patsyfox Newsletter

Fashion Illustration Classes

The Patsyfox Drawing Salon offers boutique Fashion Illustration classes for beginners as well as those with experience. Taught by Angie Réhe - illustrator and University lecturer, class sizes are small and most materials are provided.

Introduction to Fashion Illustration 8-week course. Tuesday evenings 6.30pm - 9.30pm from September 4th. This is a comprehensive course covering all the most important things you need to know for fashion illustration. Suitable for complete beginners or those with experience.

Draw Like the Masters - Classic Fashion Illustration. Sunday 16th September. 12.00pm - 4.00pm. The flair and artistic elan of the Masters are rarely matched in the modern day. There is a boldness and confidence that is full of movement and expression, and yet a complete economy of detail. Spend an afternoon discussing the greatest works of fashion illustration and applying the essence of their brilliance to your own series of sketches.

Watercolour & Ink Technique. Sunday 7th October 10.30am - 4.30pm. Are you sick of making mud pies with your watercolours and inks? This intensive workshop will look at the ways that both media are used, starting with the various qualities of the media, and the importance of tools - brushes, paper, etc. We'll start with a range of fundamental techniques and progress through some advanced effects, specifically as used in Fashion Illustration. It will be creative, it will be fun, you will love it!

So You Think You Can't Draw Faces? Sunday October 14th. A one-day intensive workshop exploring how to draw faces beautifully and correctly. Starting with the structure of the head and taking it through to stylised fashion faces.

Fashion Illustration Bootcamp! Sunday November 18th 10.30am - 4.30pm. A one-day intensive workshop suitable for absolute beginners or those with some experience. Learn the key fundamentals of fashion illustration and how to get a great figure down on paper, then colour it in a dynamic manner.

PRIVATE CLASSES - I have recently opened up some time again in my schedule for private tuition. Contact me directly for details. A more expensive option per hour, less time is required and lessons are designed and targeted specific to your requirements.

Gift certificates! The gift that keeps on giving, you can purchase gift certificates for specific classes and workshops, or just as a value to contribute to any Drawing Salon workshops. Valid for 12 months.